I am brewing a series of posts on this very topic. I agree so much with the message, or messages, in this moving post.
I think that the terminal care industry - and that is what it has become - and the hospice movement, and the media in general, has tried, in modern parlance, to spin death and dying into something it is not.
I know this is not politically correct these days, but death and dying is not fun, it is not a wonderful experience to be shared. Death is a bugger. A right royal bugger.
Of course there is much we can do to support dying patients and their families, but please let us stop trying to make it something it is not.
One of my many irritations with it the treatment of the dying is the way Macmillan Nurses are so ready to recommend dying patients go on Prozac. As though to suggest that someone who is dying, and trying to deal with the fear and the lonliness of the experience is somehow mentally ill. Most dying people have feelings of sadness. They need comfort and support. They rarely need antidepressants.
Dr John Crippen (not verified)
May 10, 2006 - 09:59Tony,
I am brewing a series of posts on this very topic. I agree so much with the message, or messages, in this moving post.
I think that the terminal care industry - and that is what it has become - and the hospice movement, and the media in general, has tried, in modern parlance, to spin death and dying into something it is not.
I know this is not politically correct these days, but death and dying is not fun, it is not a wonderful experience to be shared. Death is a bugger. A right royal bugger.
Of course there is much we can do to support dying patients and their families, but please let us stop trying to make it something it is not.
One of my many irritations with it the treatment of the dying is the way Macmillan Nurses are so ready to recommend dying patients go on Prozac. As though to suggest that someone who is dying, and trying to deal with the fear and the lonliness of the experience is somehow mentally ill. Most dying people have feelings of sadness. They need comfort and support. They rarely need antidepressants.
John
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